<p class="poetry">Leave Babylon!p> <p class="poetry">Flee from the Babylonians!p> <p class="poetry">Announce it with a shout of joy!p> <p class="poetry">Make this known!p> <p class="poetry">Proclaim it throughout the earth!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Say, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> protects<n id="2" /> his servant Jacob.p>

<p class="poetry">Who among you fears the <sc>Lordsc>?p> <p class="poetry">Who obeys<n id="1" /> his servant?p> <p class="poetry">Whoever walks in deep darkness,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">without light,p> <p class="poetry">should trust in the name of the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">and rely on his God.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Shout loudly! Don&#8217;t be quiet!p> <p class="poetry">Yell as loud as a trumpet!p> <p class="poetry">Confront my people with their rebellious deeds;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">confront Jacob&#8217;s family with their sin!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Look, your fasting is accompanied by<n id="1" /> arguments, brawls,p> <p class="poetry">and fistfights.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not fast as you do today,p> <p class="poetry">trying to make your voice heard in heaven.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;A noise is heard on the hilltops.p> <p class="poetry">It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed they have followed sinful ways;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they have forgotten to be true to the <sc>Lordsc> their God.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">They are saying,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Announce to the surrounding nations,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The enemy is coming!&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Proclaim this message<n id="4" /> to Jerusalem:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Those who besiege cities<n id="5" /> are coming from a distant land.p> <p class="poetry">They are ready to raise the battle cry against<n id="6" /> the towns in Judah.&#8221;&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Oh, the feeling in the pit of my stomach!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I writhe in anguish.p> <p class="poetry">Oh, the pain in my heart!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">My heart pounds within me.p> <p class="poetry">I cannot keep silent.p> <p class="poetry">For I hear the sound of the trumpet;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">the sound of the battle cry pierces my soul!<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">At the sound of the approaching horsemen and archersp> <p class="poetry">the people of every town will flee.p> <p class="poetry">Some of them will hide in the thickets.p> <p class="poetry">Others will climb up among the rocks.p> <p class="poetry">All the cities will be deserted.p> <p class="poetry">No one will remain in them.p>

So tell them: &#8216;This is a nation that has not obeyed the <sc>Lordsc> their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">The snorting of the enemy&#8217;s horsesp> <p class="poetry">is already being heard in the city of Dan.p> <p class="poetry">The sound of the neighing of their stallions<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">causes the whole land to tremble with fear.p> <p class="poetry">They are coming to destroy the land and everything in it!p> <p class="poetry">They are coming to destroy<n id="2" /> the cities and everyone who lives in them!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> answered, &#8220;This has happened because these people have rejected my laws which I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion.p> <p class="poetry">They will wail,<n id="1" /> &#8216;We are utterly ruined!<n id="2" /> We are completely disgraced!p> <p class="poetry">For our houses have been torn downp> <p class="poetry">and we must leave our land.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">When his voice thunders,<n id="1" /> the heavenly ocean roars.p> <p class="poetry">He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.p> <p class="poetry">He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Listen! News is coming even now.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The rumble of a great army is heard approaching<n id="2" /> from a land in the north.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,p> <p class="poetry">places where only jackals live.p>

For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me.<n id="1" /> I warned them again and again,<n id="2" /> ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day.

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, once called<n id="1" /> you a thriving olive tree,p> <p class="poetry">one that produced beautiful fruit.p> <p class="poetry">But I will set you<n id="2" /> on fire,p> <p class="poetry">fire that will blaze with a mighty roar.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then all your branches will be good for nothing.<n id="4" />p>

But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

<p class="poetry">While you were feeling secure I gave you warning.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">But you said, &#8220;I refuse to listen to you.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.p>

But correct the way you have been living and do what is right.<n id="1" /> Obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God. If you do, the <sc>Lordsc> will forgo destroying you as he threatened he would.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says to her,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Stop crying! Do not shed any more tears!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For your heartfelt repentance<n id="3" /> will be rewarded.p> <p class="poetry">Your children will return from the land of the enemy.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="4" />p>